Finally! You are now looking at Doha's most recently certified open water diver :) Woohoo! That has been on my life list for quite some time, I'm so happy to have finally accomplished it! So now I can actually go diving in all these fabulous places instead of just snorkeling. Yay!

Check out this article in the news.

It's really very sad. The situation is the same here in Doha. If you go to the airport you'll see dozens of men sleeping on the concrete right outside the terminal, with no one to claim them. The way they treat workers here is so horrible. It took me a long while to realize why they were so awe struck any time I showed them kindness, or said thank you, or GAVE them something.

When I was in my other office I used to lend my tea boy books all the time and at first he didn't want to accept it. When I smile and say hello to the cleaners in my building, it's like a light shines through their eyes because someone is acknowledging them as a human being and appreciating the work they do. Sigh. Sometimes you just feel so stuck because you want to change things and you know it will probably take 50 years, if it happens.

Update on previous post:

I found some photos of flapper dresses with feather trim, and I was able to find feather trim, so Im gonna sew feather trim on my dress! I looked through the souqs but I just couldn't find fringe. I did found a bit of sequin to trim the neckline with. We'll see how it looks all put together!


Last night I gave my wig a haircut. I made poor Rory wear it because I needed it to sit on a real head. It's not perfect (because cutting a wig with big honky scissors isn't easy) but in a darkened room it will probably look very real. I gave it a nice short bob to go with the flapper theme.

I was going to dye my other dark brown wig black for Morticia, but since I am running out of time, decided it was best not to attempt. More so because I realized it would make a great Lara Croft piece. While my hair works for that now, I DO plan on cutting it as soon as it's long enough to donate again. I'll have a safety net for playing my favorite Heroin!

For anyone:

I'm having a very hard time finding fringe to make my flapper dress for the gangsters and molls party. So....I was considering trimming the bottom of my dress with feather and wearing a matching feather boa.
Do you think this would suffice or just look like I'm trying to be an ostrich?

Ok. I'm still hunting for items to fulfill my 'moll' outfit for the Monster's Ball, but Halloween is decided! We are going as Morticia and Gomez Adams. I've got all the garb, I just need a long black wig. Someone tipped me off on a wig shop at the big ass mall, so I'm going to brave the insanity tomorrow and try to find it. I even found dark purple lipstick to enhance my gothness. Woohoo!

So what do you think of Morticia and Gomez Adams? I'm kind of stuck this year with very little time and limited resources. Halloween is always harder to pull off when you don't have craft and thrift stores at your finger tips. I know, I know...Morticia seems so simple and not very croft like, but I'm making a compromise. Rory wanted to do something together and he wanted it to be 'scary' like.

I thought Jack Skellington and Sally would be pretty cool...but again, being able to create the appropriate head for Rory would be tricky, without the supplies readily available. I could have easily done it if I could get my hands on a bald cap and some black/white face paint. I could easily slap together a Sally dress. Sigh. I really loooooove Halloween, and dressing up in general. It's really hard having to do it in the desert where 80% of people haven't even heard of Halloween. :(

If anyone has other character ideas in the 'scary' genre that doesn't require a lot of props, please share. I also thought about Beetlejuice and whats-her-name, but again...that would require finding him a wig and face paint etc etc.

On top of that we're going to the "Monster's Ball" which is an 3 course dinner/open bar gala which has a specific theme. Gangsters and Molls. So, I also have to figure out how to make a flapper dress real quick like! He gets away easy, he just needs a suit. I don't even know if I can find a short bob wig anywhere, no time to order online. Worse comes to worse I suppose I can go for the finger wave hairdo and really pin it all up nice and short. The only thing I've got going for me is a feathered fan I bought at Ann Summers while we were in Ireland.

We'll see what I can magically pull out of my ass in the next week and a half. At least I have a sewing machine and lots of fabric souqs!

Holy crapola I have so much catching up to do with my journal!!! Here is the super brief version:

I'm getting my SCUBA certification this weekend, FINALLY!

Just got back from Ireland.

Guinness DOES taste different there.

Rory and I celebrated 6 months last night at an awesome Italian restaurant. We're hoping to celebrate 1 year in the Maldives :)

I went to Hanoi and Halong Bay in Vietnam.

I went to Siem Reap in Cambodia - and the people are awesome!

Will get photos posted to my site very soon!

Josh/Jason - I just found your birthday card in my closet when I did a cleaning fest yesterday! Woops. Will send it soon.

Ciao!